Practice Areas

Practice Areas

Areas of Practice

Our main practice areas are mergers and acquisitions, corporate law, contract law, employment law, and intellectual property law.

Corporate Law

We structure the foreign company’s presence in the United States and coordinate its business and tax planning needs with accountants and tax advisors.

Deborah A. Nilson has 30 years of experience representing foreign clients in all aspects of transnational corporate ventures, including the formation of local entities, acquisition of existing U.S. businesses and contractual relationships with American counterparts.

Representative Matters

Corporate management and consulting for a US non-profit branch of a well-known French medical research foundation.

Performed complex reorganization of large, multi-entity transportation group, including dissolution and withdrawals of more than a dozen entities

Mergers & Acquisitions

We handle acquisitions and mergers of privately-held companies, and have experience with multinational acquisitions.

Our firm deals with all aspects of day to day corporate governance. Upon request, we also offer fiduciary management services for those clients who lack a U.S. presence, which could include providing a U.S. address, basic bookkeeping, supervision of a sales force and reporting to the foreign parent.

Representative Matters

Managed the 90 million dollar sale of a medical device manufacturer to a listed company.

Advised a U.S. medical device distributer (with net worth over several million dollars) in connection with its merger with a French medical device manufacturer.

Employment Law

We regularly advise companies, their boards of directors and/or management on a variety of employment-related issues, including:

  • Drafting and tailoring employee policies and procedures (including Employee Handbooks);
  • Contract negotiations, including offer letters, employment agreements, and independent contractor agreements;
  • Work-for-hire;
  • Compensation matters;
  • Drafting non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements;
  • Wage and hour law matters;
  • Terminations, including large-scale workforce reductions;
  • Separation Agreements and severance negotiations;
  • Compliance with workplace statutes, such as the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN), and state and local employment statutes;
  • Enforcement of post-departure employee obligations and restrictive covenants (such as non-competition, non-solicitation); and
  • Preventive measures to address claims of discrimination, harassment, retaliation/whistleblowing, or social media issues.

We also advise individual employees on employment matters that do not pose a conflict of interest for our firm.

Representative Matters

Developed and implemented a sexual harassment training program, as well as internal policies and procedures, for a telecommunications company.

Successfully defended and counterclaimed on behalf of a multinational agribusiness before a French court, involving the breach of a U.S. employment contract, resulting in award of damages against the former employee of approximately 1.5 million dollars.

Intellectual Property Law

We arrange for and review comprehensive trademark searches, prepare and file trademark applications and address issues regarding the registration, including examiner’s refusals and oppositions.

Our firm also has many years of experience pursuing infringers, including for clients with world famous trademarks. We also prepare documents, and draft and negotiate all agreements pertaining to trademarks including cease and desist letters, licenses, assignments, coexistence agreements and settlement agreements. Finally, we also advise clients as to copyright issues and assist in copyright filing, if requested.

Representative Matters

Manage the day-to-day protection and enforcement of an internationally well-known French trademark.

Negotiated and settled a trademark infringement matter against an international automobile manufacturer on behalf of the owners of a world-famous trademark.

Maintain international trademark portfolios for a pop-rock band, several hip-hop artists, and other American musicians.

Contract Law

We provide legal representation in the drafting and negotiation of most commercial contracts and legal documents, including:

  • distribution agreements
  • licensing agreements
  • joint ventures
  • shareholder agreements
  • employment agreements
  • asset purchase agreements
  • consulting agreements
  • commercial leases
  • non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements
  • employee handbooks
  • powers of attorney
  • releases
  • guarantees, and
  • terms and conditions of sale

Representative Matters

Negotiated leases for an Italian accessory designer in both Soho and Los Angeles.

Created the online terms and conditions for an e-health training and networking service.

Negotiated the sublease of a Madison Avenue boutique for a French couture fashion house.

What our Clients
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